What to Expect from Summer Courses

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: May 18,2009

If you want to finish your degree in four years, you will probably need to take a few summer courses.   There are differences between summer courses and regular courses.

Note that my university is small.  Classes are small; therefore, summer classes are even smaller.

Short Time Period

Summer classes do not last as long.  So you will be going through the material a lot quicker.  That is why it is sometimes better to save your easy courses for summer.  Good luck taking Calculus II over the summer.  Psychology 101 seems a lot easier.

Classes are more relaxed.

During the summer, professors seem to be more laid back.  Especially if the it is a small class.  Small classes tend to become more discussion type courses than lectures, which to me is always a bonus.

Picking Summer Courses

I have two perspectives on this.  One was mentioned above; take easy courses.  My other view is to take a course that will challenge you and that you will enjoy.  If you are a computer science major maybe take the course on artificial intelligence and really dive into it.  If it’s the only course you are taking you should be able to really focus on the course, and you will come out of it being a lot better in your field.

Things to do during Summer of 2009

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: May 11,2009

Last year, I wrote a post on things to do during the summer, and I will write one again this year.

Trips

Photo by j.reed

Road trip!  All college kids love road trips.  Sometimes it really doesn’t matter where you go, its the journey that counts.  Drive to go see the Grand Canyon and back.  Or if your looking for a place to actually stay for a while, I suggest either camping or going to a theme park.  The best theme park ever is Cedar Point.  It has some of the world’s fastest and tallest roller coasters.  The Top Thrill Dragster will shoot you straight up 420 feet at 120 miles per hours.  Or my favorite roller coaster is the Millennium Force, which has a 300 feet drop with a top speed of 90 miles per hour and a ride time of about 2 minutes and 20 seconds (which is a long time on a coaster).

Work on a Project

Design a project that you can work on all summer.  Take a project you did for one of your courses and expand on it.  Did you write software in your programming class?  Finish it.  Maybe it’s worth selling.  Or did you write a short story for your writing course?  Fine tune the story and try to get it published, or maybe turn the short story into a novel.

Read

It never hurts to read!  This is one of my goals over the summer.  I plan to read everything from fiction to text books and academic journals.

When you read, don’t just read.  Try to see if you can improve your reading speed, to do that just focus on reading faster and faster.  While there are courses on how to read faster, I believe it is something you can teach yourself.

Typing Course

You may think I am crazy for saying this but download a typing program and see if you can improve your typing skills.  I know you already know how to type fast, but if you are like me, you probably get sloppy at typing as time goes on.  It wouldn’t hurt to start over.  You can always benefit by being able to type faster.

My Summer Goals

During my summer, I plan to be productive.  More productive than when I was in school.  I’m not taking any summer courses and I am only working about 20 hours.  So I have a lot of time on my hands, and I have no intention of wasting it.

Blog Posts - Over the summer I will continue to have weekly posts and I would like to pre-write posts for the fall semester that I can publish during finals period.  That way the blog can continue while I’m trying to study for finals.

Reading - As I mentioned above I plan to read a lot.  I have a about 10 programming books I would like to skim through.  I’m going to be doing some Artificial Intelligence research, so I will be reading many academic articles also.  But of course I’m going to sit down and enjoy some great fiction literature.

I will reread the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin, who is by far the best fantasy author of our time.  Yes, it is a fantasy series, but I believe everyone will like the series; however, I will warn you that it is graphic with sex, gore, swearing, and never a happy ending. If your interested you can start with the first book in the series A Game of Thrones.

iPhone app - I am working on an iPhone application.  I won’t go into details.

Research - I will be working on some research in artificial intelligence, but most of that research will be reading and acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills.  Hopefully by the end of the summer I can begin working on some of my own ideas.

Well that’s what I’m going to be doing this summer.  I am also planning a trip with some friends, but I won’t do that until August.

What are you doing this summer?  Anything exciting? Is anyone traveling abroad?

Steal a Book from Your Professor

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: Apr 16,2009

I want you to steal a book from your professor! Well, ask first.

The idea is simple. If you go to a professors office to talk to them about a specific topic or research, ask him/her if they suggest a certain book. Chances are they have a suggestion, they have the book, and they will offer to let you borrow it. If you are offered, take it. Now that you have their book, you have no other choice but to come back to their office. And you are on your way to building a better relationship with your professor.

University Faculty/Student Web Pages - Need an upgrade?

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Development
• Date: Apr 16,2009

A few days ago over at TheByteBaker there was a post (Is WordPress professional enough?) that sparked some discussion.  The post was specifically about whether or not WordPress was professional enough to use as university webpages.

My answer is yes.

Web 1.0

A University is a place where the brightest minds come together and build a progressive community.  So why are so many universities behind on technology.  My university only allows for students, faculty, and student organizations to use standard HTML to build their website.  While professors in the computer science departments may easily be able to update their websites, what about the English and history professors?  In today’s Web 2.0 world, it is important for a faculty member to be able to update a website, to be able to share their knowledge with the world.

WordPress or Joomla!

It’s a no-brainer that a university should choose a free open source program to make the websites.  The question is which one.  I believe WordPress MultiUser would be the easiest to use and set up.  However, perhaps a better CMS(content management system) such as Joomla! would be better as an e-portfolio.  But I’m not sure how easy it would be to setup Joomla for multiple users and webpages (If anyone has knowledge on this let me know).

Just Use Facebook?

Some would argue that there is no need for professors and students to have websites because they can just use Facebook.  I agree that that Facebook is useful and has it’s place in networking, but it can’t do everything a website can do.  One reason is that Facebook is not Google.  Someone may go to Facebook to search for a specific person, but they won’t go to Facebook for “researchers in machine vision and machine learning.”

Getting Things Started

This topic is extremely interesting to me as I intend to start my own student organization that works to improve the use of technology on campus.  One of my first goals is to do this very thing, improve the websites.  It is my expectations that a better online environment would improve campus involvement and grow the community.  Student organizations would have websites that would allow them to communicate better with their members and advertise their events.

If you are looking for a good project to work on at school, perhaps you can do the same thing.  Because a university should not lag behind when it comes to culture and technology.

If You Won the Lottery?

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: Apr 14,2009

Photo by Jeff Kubina

Just a simple question.  What would you do if you won the lottery?  Would you drop out of school?  Change your major?  It seems winning the lottery will actually corrupt most people, but it is a very interesting way to determine what your priorities are.  If I won the lottery, I would stay in school and still go on to get my PhD.  I would also spend some money on my own personal supercomputer for scientific research, with several Tesla GPU’s and 24 solid state drives.

What would you do?

6 Reasons to Start a Student Organization

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Development
• Date: Apr 13,2009

1. There is not a student organization that deals with your topic or issue. At big universities there are a lot of student organizations. The MIT website showed over 400 student organizations. Chances are if a university has that many student organizations, one of them deals with your topic.
2. You have the time. If you are struggling to keep your grades up with the time you have, then it is probably not a good idea to become a leader of a student organization.
3. Your not alone. Starting a student organization from scratch can be a very difficult thing to due, and doing it on your own will be even harder. If you having people backing, go for it.
4. The university will benefit from the organization. While a cookie baking club may be fun to some people, there really isn’t any reason to have it associated with the university. An organization like that should be left as an unofficial organization.
5. Long term development. Sometimes it’s not necessary to make a student organization to work on things. Just because you have an idea for a project, doesn’t mean you must start a student organization. Going through the paperwork for starting a student org can be a waste of time for a project that will only last 3 months.
6. You need the university’s resources. Sometimes you need to organize a massive amount of people, and you really need a large conference room to do it. Many universities won’t let you request rooms unless you are an accepted student organization.

Join with Another Student Organization

As #1 says, check to see if there is a student organization to work with. If you have an idea for a project, go to them and say, “Hey I have this idea, can I work with your student organization.” Why would they say no? You are offering to be in charge of a project (meaning they don’t have to do anything), and the student org gets the credit. Seems like a win win situation to me.

Not part of a student organization yet?

If you have not joined a student organization yet, you need to start looking for one to join. Note that I said one, not 6 or even 2. I said one.  Look around campus, and find a organization you would like to join. Join it and get involved. If after a semester or two you realize your not interested in the organization anymore, it’s ok to leave it and find a new one.

Being part of a student organization helps you feel like you belong, provides resources for you to develop, and it can just be a lot of fun.

Getting Letters of Recommendation

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: Apr 7,2009

Have you ever had to ask someone for a letter of recommendation?  If you have, you probably know that it isn’t an easy task.  But it shouldn’t be a problem at all.  It shouldn’t be that difficult to ask someone if they could do you a favor.  In this post I am going to give some advice that will help ease the process of getting letters of recommendations and guarantee that you will have good letters written about you.

You Must have a Relationship

If you don’t have a relationship with someone, do you think they can write a letter about you?  Someone that doesn’t have a relationship with you will just write a generic letter, a letter that all employers or grad programs have seen.  So if you want professor to write a good letter of recommendation, you better start working on building that relationship.

Maintain the Relationship

It’s your first semester of your Junior year at college, and you have a professor that you really like.  Through out the course of the semester you build a good relationship with him.  But once the semester is over you never speak to him again, until a year later when you come to his office asking for a letter of recommendation.  There is a chance he doesn’t even remember you.

To avoid this issue you need to stay in contact with your professors even after the course is over.  Simply emailing the professor a link to an article that may be of interest to him is enough to keep you in his mind.  Or stop by the office one day just to say hello.

Target Practice

I know it sounds awful, but you need to target the people you want letters of recommendations from.  Unfortunately, like many things, there is always a bit of politics to be played. Usually you will have worked with the person and it won’t feel like you are really targeting them, but when you first start out consider what type of letter that person could write.  Before you start working on research or a project with a professor consider if they are the best professor to work with, and will they increase my chance of getting to where I want to be. It shouldn’t be your only factor, but you should at least ponder the idea.

Who Should I Ask?

It all depends on what you need the letters for.  If you need the letters for getting into grad school, you need to ask professors, specifically the professors you had worked with on research. If you are going into the business world, maybe you should ask the faculty member that advised the student organization you started.   Or if you still can contact someone you worked with during a summer internship, you could ask them.

Who Not to Ask

If you were working at McDonald’s to support you through college, it is not a good idea to get the night manager to write you a letter.  And obviously friends and family members will be considered biased.  Just don’t even think about having them send a letter.

So don’t wait to the last minute to decide who you want to ask for a letter of recommendation.  Think about it way before you start applying for grad school or jobs.  Just thinking about this post for 30 minutes will really ease the pain of getting those letters of recommendations.  It’s amazing what a few moments of thought can do.

Studying for the GRE - Vocab Resources

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: Grad School
• Date: Apr 6,2009

If you are beginning the search for graduate school, you should probably begin preparing for graduate school.  I have two full years until I graduate, but I am already preparing.  The other day I gathered three resources that I will be using to study for the GRE.

GRE Vocab iPhone/iPod Touch Application

I thought it would be cool if I could study GRE vocab by using my iPod Touch, so I figured someone had made an app. Well they did.  Kaplan has made a GRE Vocab Flash Card app that is only $4.99.

I have tested the app out, and I’d say it’s worth the five dollars.  It has a database of 501 words which are divided into three groups by level of difficulty.  You can choose to go through one of the levels or all 501 words.

Once you choose the level difficulty you will be presented with a random word from the database.  Once you think you know what the word is, you tap the screen and it will give you the definition.  Then you have the option to see synonyms and an example sentence.  Then you either hit a check mark or an “X” depending if you knew the word or not.  Once you have gone through all of the words it will reshuffle the cards that you didn’t know.

It is a great tool.  If you use an iPod touch or iPhone, I suggest you get it.

GRE Flash Cards - The Old Fashion Ones

I purchased the same set of 500 words as regular flash cards.  I am guessing the words are exactly the same.  Both products are by Kaplan.  While the iPhone app is cool the flash cards are convenient to carry around.  One thing you can do is just grab 20 flash cards for a week, and whenever you get a chance you can pull them out and go over them.  The iPhone app on the other hand only allows you to go through 160 at a time, which can be an overwhelming amount when you are just starting out.

My only criticism of the flash cards is that they are very small.  Though they are readable, the small sizes makes them difficult to hold.

To purchase from Amazon.com click here.

Kaplan GRE Exam 2009 Premier Program

I also ordered this book from Kaplan.  I haven’t had a chance to go through it yet, but it does come with 5 full-length practice tests.  And it is supposed to have additional resources online.

To purchase from Amazon.com click here.

I hope this post will help out anyone else preparing for the GRE.  If you have any other suggested resources for studying for the GRE, please let us know in the comments below.

Is it OK to Change Your Major?

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: Mar 31,2009

So you entered college thinking you knew exactly what you were going to do.  Well, life ended up proving you wrong.  What once was, without a doubt, going to be your major now bores the living hell out of you.  Some students will worry that they can’t change their major, that when they said psychology was going to be their major it was etched into stone.  If you think you can’t change your major then your wrong, it is as easy as saying “I want to change my major.”  To be truthful, I don’t know of a single friend who hasn’t changed their major.

How many times can you change your major?

You can change your major as many times as you want.  I have changed mine about three times now.  But there does become a point in time when it gets a little overboard.  If you are finishing up your third year, chances are you may decide to just go ahead and finish up.  Usually the reason people change their major is because they are too quick to declare a major.  All students think that they have to declare their major the first year.  That isn’t true. You can take your general education courses and then decide.

I know my major is not fit for me, but how do I go about choosing a different one?

There are three resources you can go to, and you should eventually go to all three of them.  The first one you should consider is the career office at your college.  Most colleges have some form of career advisement.  You can probably take a personality test, they may give you a few possible career choices.  (Remember these are just generalized test, they too are not set in stone.)  Once you have researched some of the possible fields the career advisement office suggested, you should head on over to your college adviser.  Your adviser will be able to tell you what courses you will need to take.  When you are leaving your advisers office and he/she asks if you want them to change your major in the system, tell them no.  Tell them you will get back with them.  If you tell them yes, you will feel tied down to that major.

Now you think you know what you want your new major to be.  So you need to talk to one of two people.  You should contact a professor within the major.  Schedule a 30 minute meeting with them and discuss the field and what possibilities it holds in the future.  Or if you are more interested in the industry side of the field than the academic side, you want to find a professional to speak to.  Check with career advisement department to see if they can hook you up with someone.

College isn’t easy, and it is harder if you are working on a major you don’t enjoy.  If you need to change your major, do it.  Life will be much easier.

The Skipping Class Illusion

• Author: Michael |University Scholar
• Filed under: College Advice
• Date: Mar 26,2009

An interesting thing occurred today, which made me think about the dangers of skipping class.  I was watching video lectures of the Harvard Computer Science 50 course.  I had just finished up watching Week 2’s Monday lecture and I sat down to watch Week 2’s Wednesday lecture.  But as I was watching it I become confused whenever I didn’t know what the lecture was talking about.  He was mentioning things that had yet been discussed in the course.  Then it dawned on me that I was actually watching week 3’s lecture.  Somehow I had skipped downloading week 2’s Wednesday lecture.  It made me realize that this is what I should feel like if I skip class, but it is not.  Watching the lectures I felt lost and confused, but if I miss a class (Yes, I have missed.) I usually don’t feel so confused.

I pondered on this for a while.  And I think the reason is that when you miss a class there is usually at least a full day until you go again, allowing your brain to blur your memory of the last class session you did attend; therefore, distorting your perception of what content you missed in between sessions.

So for you to realize how much content you are missing if you skip class, watch two video lectures back to back and skip one lecture in between.  To find a lecture check out Tuesday’s post.  It is a website that hosts video lectures. It is fairly new, but I have known about it for a few months now and there has been more courses add since then.